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Abstract:
Correlated electron fluids can exhibit a startling array of complex
phases, among which one of the more surprising is the electron nematic,
a translationally invariant metallic phase with a spontaneously
generated spatial anisotropy. Classical nematics generally occur in
liquids of rod-like molecules; given that electrons are point like, the
initial theoretical motivation for contemplating electron nematics came
from thinking of the electron fluid as a quantum melted electron
crystal, rather than a strongly interacting descendent of a Fermi gas.
Dramatic transport experiments in ultra-clean quantum Hall systems in
1999 and in Sr(3)Ru(2)O(7) in a strong magnetic field in 2007
established that such phases exist in nature. In this article, we
briefly review the theoretical considerations governing nematic order,
summarize the quantum Hall and Sr(3)Ru(2)O(7) experiments that
unambiguously establish the existence of this phase, and survey some of
the current evidence for such a phase in the cuprate and Fe-based high
temperature superconductors.
